


In the Corner of my Eye

by MountainRose



Series: Perspectives [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Archery, Gen, Minific, Night vision
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-07
Updated: 2013-11-07
Packaged: 2017-12-31 18:37:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1035056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MountainRose/pseuds/MountainRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seeing in the dark just takes patience, and practice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Corner of my Eye

There's a trick to seeing in the dark. It's got nothing to do with genes, or eating your five-a-day, or mystical forces.

It’s about patience.

One and a half minutes after you leave the light, your iris has adjusted as much as is physically possible. You go from blind to maybe, if you're lucky, being able to see the shadow of your hand in front of your face.

By fifteen minutes, your retina has adjusted enough to pick up single photons, but you're still nearly blind, because your brain can't tell the difference between a photon and an accidental firing of a nerve. It’s worse at the fovea, where the colour detection sits, because those cells are less sensitive, and the cells are smaller, less area to pick up those single photons.

So, you can't just _look_ at things; it’s so dark the world looks grainy and you _know_ the target is here, _somewhere_. Looking at things just makes them vanish into hissing grey, like white noise on a television. No, you have to keep your eyes still, perfectly, without looking at what you want to see.

Slowly, the edges creep into awareness, but as soon as you start to see them, they start fading again; retinal fatigue and contrast detection software up in the brain. You see, the brain is desperately searching for that moving thing, the lion in the grass, the rabbit for dinner, the mark. Everything else it loses sight of, irrelevant, and the world greys out, you lose depth, perspective, can't judge the range any more.

So you twitch. Shift your gaze a few optical degrees to one side. For a fraction of a second, you can see everything. Black and white, but the edges make _sense_. Pause. Repeat.

Draw, hold, _breathe_.

Movement is easy, after that. It stands out like a flare going off.

Release. Follow through. Target eliminated.

 

My name is Clint Barton, and I can see in the dark.

 

 


End file.
